


Spicy Dates

by Esparafuso, platypuz



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Romantic dates, baleric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 06:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16192274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esparafuso/pseuds/Esparafuso, https://archiveofourown.org/users/platypuz/pseuds/platypuz
Summary: Inspired by 16th day of the 30 Days of Domestic Fluff Challenge by @Footballchallenge16. Trying Something NewGareth takes Luka out on a date to cheer him up after Croatia's harsh lost against Spain and finds out the night would be way more challenging than he first thought.





	Spicy Dates

In the space of seconds, it felt like his tongue was on fire. Literally, to the point his eyes fell on the plate in front of him to make sure he was eating actual food instead of ember. He didn’t even chew it much before his reflexes made him swallow the portion in his mouth, in a very stupid attempt to get rid of the fire on his tongue, only to feel it leaving a trail of flames behind when it slid down his throat.

“Good Lord in Heaven” Gareth whispered, closing his eyes and feeling even the shaky breath coming out of his nose burn his nostrils. He was trying to not demonstrate so much that painful experience to the person sitting by his side at the dinner table, but he was conscious he was failing - especially when said person was so observant he was known for having imaginary eyes in the back of his head.

“Uhm...Gareth? Is there something wrong?” Luka asked, slowly placing his fork by his own plate’s side, directing a concerning look at the forward. He touched the knuckles of his lover’s fingers with care as Gareth took yet another few seconds to open his eyes, breathing slowly in and out in a way that was starting to scare the midfielder.

“I-” Gareth tried, but his voice cracked at his attempt. He cleared his throat, wincing as it made things worse for a moment, but managed to speak more clearly afterwards “I’m alright, sorry. It was just, erm…” he tried to think fast, looking at Luka and then back at the dish with frowned brows “...didn’t chew it enough times, it’s all. Don’t worry about me, love”

Luka narrowed his eyes, suspicious, but relaxed when Gareth took a sip of his glass of water and smiled at him. “I’m alright” The Welsh reinforced, taking Luka’s hand touching his own to enlace their fingers for a moment, and only then Luka smiled back at him.

Gareth wasn’t alright, but that night couldn’t be ruined by a miscalculated order of food on his part. He planned that date for weeks.

 

* * *

 

 

It all started a little while ago, prior to Luka's birthday and the much awaited match of Croatia and Spain. Gareth knew he wouldn’t be able to spend the day with him and would have to make up for it somehow. After the match passed, the Croatian’s mood obviously wasn’t at its peak. Wales also lost to Denmark but Gareth knew it wasn’t anything to be named the “Worst Ever Defeat in History” like it was for Croatia. Gareth admitted that it was quite peculiar how in that same year his lover has been in such extremes of Ups and Downs in his career, especially regards his National Team.

Luka tried his best not to sulk when he returned to Madrid and to his Club’s routine, offering weak smiles to his mates whenever they interacted. Gareth knew those were attempts to not worry his friends more than necessary and it broke his heart to see him that way. He was doing anything he could to comfort his boyfriend since they first talked on the phone that same night up until now that they were thankfully together again. At first Gareth didn’t really know what he could do, but he knew they had to not only celebrate Luka’s belated birthday, but it was a matter of honour to cheer his baby bird up in the best way possible and see his large smile back on his face.

It was while he was dressing up in the locker room that he had an idea. A date somewhere cozy and pleasant seemed perfect, for while it was something so usual for regular couples, the two of them seemed to always find themselves busy with trainings and matches and their own families. They had a short break between the end of the UEFA’s Nations League and a new La Liga match on Saturday though, and one day would be more than enough to have a special little event together. The Welsh smiled to himself, happy before the perspective of going out with his lover.

While considering the places he could possibly take Luka, Gareth casually mentioned it to Sergio, whose face immediately lit up. He was fixing his hair in the same dressing room at the time, getting ready to leave with the forward.

"What a good idea! We could go to that Pub that opened recently!" Sergio exclaimed. "I've heard they have a tequila combo for three people."

"Uh, actually..." Gareth started with an apologetic smile. "I was thinking it would be just the two of us. Him and I, you know?"

"Ah. I see." The Spanish looked down as his excitement died. "Go on then, abandon me."

"Oh, stop it." A lighthearted punch was thrown to Sergio's shoulder. "You're not jealous, are you? We still love you."

"Of course I'm not jealous, Gaz. I'm a grown man." Silence fell while Sergio resumed his efforts to apply the hair pomade in an uniform layer, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. After a couple instants, he let out a contemplative hum. "You know what? I have a suggestion for your date."

"Yeah?"

"Did you know Lukita loves korean food?"

Gareth raised an eyebrow, shaking his head negatively. That was news for him, but then again, he mused on the fact that him and Luka never had an opportunity to eat korean food together. Gareth himself haven't had it before.

"Well, he does. It's one of his favourites." the Spanish assured as he gave his hair one final comb, seeming satisfied with the result. "And there happens to be the best korean place a few blocks from here. A lot of couples go there, but it's never full. I'm sure it'll put a smile on that little face."

It was Gareth's turn to felt a tiny twinge of jealousy. How did he not know that? Nonetheless, he dismissed the thought to the back of his head as he acknowledged that there still were things about the Croatian that only Gareth knew. But precisely because Sergio knew Luka so well, the Welsh knew that that had to be a good suggestion.

After asking for a few more details and the address, Gareth thanked Sergio and headed towards the exit, full of expectations towards the date.

The sparkle of excitement on Luka’s eyes when Gareth made the invitation was enough to confirm that Sergio's idea was indeed a great one. The Welsh was certain his heart had grown three sizes as he watched the toothy smile gradually form on the Croatian's face, the one he had missed so much, followed by "Korean food! Awesome!". Luka hadn't visited the restaurant yet - Gareth saw it positively, as he would be introducing his boyfriend to somewhere new at the same time Luka would be savouring something he already loved. Gareth himself was curious about that gastronomic adventure.

They both returned home to rest and get ready, agreeing to meet later that same night. Gareth offered to pick him up in the back of his house, as always, just as a precaution to avoid possible paparazzi. He found Luka waiting for him at the usual spot, dressed in a simple combo of white dress shirt and dark pants, checking something distractedly in his phone. He notice the arrival of his car and smiled at his figure behind the wheel, promptly getting inside the vehicle after a quick look at their surroundings. It was both exciting and frustrating having to hide everything they did together from curious eyes, but after so many years you could only get used to that.

Luka leaned in and they shared a kiss, taking advantage of the relative darkness to take their time and make it slow and loving while they could. “That’s a good way to start a date” Luka murmured as Gareth still pressed his lips on the corner of his own, making him chuckle before shifting gears to drive them to the restaurant.

The place was indeed very neat. Illuminated by the yellow light of lanterns, it was small and cozy, and it didn’t take much for the smiley receptionist take them to their reserved table. As Gareth requested, it was in the second floor and away from the spotlights. Thin wooden walls separated each table almost like cabins, and despite seeming more crunched up than the large space offered by the first floor, it seemed perfect for those who wanted some extra privacy. If anything, a tighter place only helped them to stay close.

Luka himself seemed really content about it, taking a seat by the wall and looking around with a gleam in his eyes. Gareth thanked the lady as she left with the promise a waiter would come soon to take their order. The Welsh took his place in the table by Luka’s side “Seems like a good place, yes? I’ve heard good reviews about it. So far the visuals and the customer service are very nice” Gareth commented, smiling as he saw a much better expression on Luka’s face, compared to the one he’s been exhibiting lately.

“Yes, I agree. Thank you for bringing me here, Gareth.” Luka said, touching his knee under the table with affection. “I really needed something like this, you know…?”

“I do.” Gareth said, expression softening as he brushed strands of blond hair away from Luka’s face and tucked them gently behind his ear “We talked about it a lot, but I’m here for you if you feel like venting again. I just want you to stop beating yourself up over what happened, ok? Bad matches come and go every once in a while and you know it’s all part of our lives, just like our victories. You tell me this all the time yourself, don’t you?”

Luka nodded in agreement, sighing and closing his eyes as he tried to not get emotional again. “You’re an amazing captain, Luka. And still an inspiration to me” the Welsh added, caressing his lover’s face in such tender way it made Luka look at him again with flustered cheeks and a shy look in his eyes.

“You’re always so sweet and supportive, Gaz… I really appreciate it” Luka said, cupping the big hand still on his cheek and leaning against it, feeling its comforting warmth.

Gareth smiled as he lovingly acknowledged the change in Luka’s atmosphere, the heavy weight the Croatian had been carried for the last few days being slowly lifted and sent far away. And they hadn’t even started eating yet.

The players forced themselves to pull away when they heard the sound of steps approaching their table, and a couple seconds later the figure of a young waiter appeared with a small notepad in hands. The lad greeted the couple and offered the menus, waiting patiently as they ran their eyes over the options.

Gareth took longer than normal to understand what kind of dish those unusual names could bring them, most of them with ingredients he never heard of. One thing he was able to identify in all the items, though, was a scale of how spicy said dish was. Well, that was informative, although not comforting, since the possibility of sneaking a plain spiceless food was visibly out of the board. The Welsh looked again, identifying the “mildly-spicy” as his preferable path, reserved for light proteins, a couple of soups and an odd-looking bun.

“Well...let’s start with this chicken with… uh, _Kimchi_. It sounds like a good option.” he said, smiling politely at the waiter, seeing him nodding and writing his order down on his notepad. Luka ended up ordering the same. As the lad excused himself to the kitchen, the couple returned their focus on each other and engaged in an easy, enjoyable conversation about football, family, new movies and all topics that would distract the little Croatian and keep that content glow around him.

As Luka talked, the Welsh mentally patted himself on the back yet again for the idea of going out with his lover to cheer him up. A romantic night was really a wonderful solution and everything was going smoothly as expected. He was positive that the change in Luka’s mood would be visible and a little more stable for the following days - as long he kept everything perfect for his sweetheart, just like he deserved.

However, later that night, after their orders eventually came and he took the first mouthful of their apparently innocent choice of dish, Gareth realized that that would be harder than he thought.

 

* * *

 

As Gareth let out a deep breath, he wondered what kind of twisted person would call that plate "mildly spicy". The spicy paella he had with Sergio once felt like toothpaste near that hell in a plate. But he had to finish it; Gareth wouldn't dare risk their perfect evening with his low resistance to pepper. He was mentally preparing for another bite of the flaming chicken when a discreet cough brought him back to what was happening around him, rather than inside his mouth.

"Are you alright?" Gareth tugged softly on Luka's sleeve, the Croatian clearing his throat a few times - pretty much like the Welsh did earlier - before offering a weak smile.

"I'm good. Looks like we're both eating too fast." Luka joked, voice cracking a little. Gareth watched him carefully when his boyfriend looked down, and noticed with concern that Luka's eyes were watering. As Luka inhaled sharply, Gareth travelled his fingers up to the Croatian's knuckles to gentle circle the area.

"Hey... what's up?" He softly asked.

"I'm sorry." Luka blinked a few times to cast out the tears. "I'm just, erm... still emotional about what happened. And I'm so grateful for being here with you..."

"Shh, it's okay." Gareth leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek - while hoping that the spicy traces on his lips wouldn't burn Luka's skin or something -, the pair then resting their foreheads against each other's. They didn't say anything; sometimes, just hearing the other breathing was enough. It felt nice, and lasted enough amount of time for Gareth to recover from the pepper and get ready for another mouthful.

"We should get back to our plates." He whispered, actually wishing he could live in that touch forever. "We can't let that delicious food grow cold." He added, maybe too quickly.

"Right." Luka chuckled awkwardly, grabbing his fork and getting to work.

Gareth initially thought he could get used to the pepper; but at this point, he just wished he wouldn't die. Each bite was more painful than the other, and the Welsh grimaced as he bravely looked up at Luka and smiled. There was something slightly off on the Croatian's features, the corners of his mouth twitching a bit. Gareth feared that he had noticed his discomfort and tried his best to disguise it, humming as he chewed or commenting something generic like "so good" every now and then, to which Luka would agree with an enthusiastic nod.

At a certain point, Gareth couldn't take it anymore. The Welsh's hand flew to the glass of water next to his plate and he downed it in one drink, heaving a deep sigh afterwards.

The curious part? Luka had done the same.

A confused look painted Gareth's face as he took in the well known signs of distress shown by his boyfriend. The redness on his face, the still wet eyes, the way he kept clearing his throat. The Croatian looks up with a pleading stare:

"I'm sorry, I can't do this. I think I'll need a hospital by the end of this dish.”

Gareth took a couple seconds to register what he meant by that, simply because it didn’t make sense according to the information he got prior to this date. “You… You can’t take the spice either?” he asked, watching Luka rub his face and let out a muffled, defeated noise.

“No. Not at all, I’m not strong enough for this kind of food. I’m so sorry, I know you’re enjoying it a lot and-”

“Wait, wait. I’m struggling as much as you are, apparently.” Gareth hurried to correct the other, gulping as he felt the burning feeling return soon after the brief freshness of the iced water subsided on his tongue. He’d better start looking for the waiter to refill those glasses soon.

“What do you mean... It was your idea to try korean food, wasn’t it?” Luka looked at him with a confused stare, reaching out to grab his glass of water again, only to realize he drank it all on the first time. “As I was saying, I’m afraid I can’t keep up with you in this but- Sorry, could you call that boy to refill our glasses?”

Gareth frowned his eyebrows, but promptly complied to Luka’s wish as soon he saw waiter that took their order appear again by the stairs. He came to them, took the new order - a jar of water or any kind of beverage capable of cooling them down - and left in large steps, seeming to notice the urgency of it.

Only then Gareth turned to the Croatian “Okay, let’s make things a bit clearer. You don’t like spicy food?” he asked again, scratching his temple in a sign of confusion. “I… I was told you did, that’s why I brought you here…”

Luka looked back at him with an intrigued - and quite pained, due to the effects of the pepper probably returning to his mouth as it did to Gareth’s - expression “What are you talking about, Gaz? I can’t deal with spicy food, God knows what I went through when I had to act out that deodorant commercial.”

“Deodorant commercial?”

“Yes. Uh, the Nivea one, in which I have to eat a red chilli pepper at some point.” Luka explained, grimacing at the mere thought of it. “The boys laughed at me but I couldn’t handle it. They cut it immediately after to not show my pitiful reaction. Lucky me it was the last part left to be recorded, but it became an inner joke for a couple weeks in the dressing room.” The Croatian whimpered, rubbing his watery eyes again, and Gareth wasn’t sure if it was due to his past or present struggles regards pepper.

“Now that you mention it, I think I’ve heard something related to it…” The Welsh admitted, feeling stupid for not joining the dots earlier, even though he wasn’t entirely informed about the whole event. “I’m so sorry, I really thought you would like it.” he added, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s okay, please don’t feel bad! You clearly didn’t know, I’m sorry for not telling you directly either.” Luka said, rubbing Gareth’s arm in a comforting way.

Gareth was about to say something when they got interrupted by the boy returning with a jar of what seemed to be cold milk, and although it seemed weird at first sight, the lad said it was way better than water if they wanted to cut the effect of the spice from the food. Apparently accidents like that happened every now and then in their restaurant, as he reported them. Well, at least they weren’t the only naive clients they had to deal with.

They ended up asking for the bill, since they clearly wouldn’t find anything personally “edible” in the menu due their revealed low tolerance to spice. The cold milk thankfully was effective and both players sighed in relief. Luka still sipped on his second glass of milk when he came up with the question “I still wonder why you had the impression I liked spicy food, of all kinds of food out there. I mean, Croatia isn’t even known for having spicy cuisine or anything…” he said, in a curious, thoughtful tone.

“Erm, well… Actually Sergio was the one that suggested this place to me.” Gareth said, half embarrassed for not planning the night completely by himself. Although, considering the outcome, he should perhaps have the opposite feeling.

“Sergio? Why would he do that, he knows about the whole pepper episode...” Luka said, giving him an amused and puzzled smile before taking another sip of his milk.

“Does he? I don’t understand… I told him how I was earning for a romantic night with you, to bring a smile back to your face after the tough days you’ve been going through. He got excited and even wanted to come along, but then I had to say it should be a thing between us only and-...” The Welsh then stopped mid-sentence, looking at his boyfriend in silence for an instant as the pieces of that puzzle finally fell into place. “Oh my god… I’m going to kill him.”

Luka’s smile grew impossible wider, showing his dimples and finally bringing out the laugh he couldn’t contain as he had the same realization as him seconds after “So… All this is the result of Sergio’s jealousy? God, Gareth… how did you not see this coming?” he asked, putting his glass down before he spilled milk on himself for how much he was giggling.

Didn’t take long for Gareth to start laughing as well, still quite baffled the Spaniard could be such a child when he wanted. It certainly taught him to be more careful next time he had to leave Sergio out of a date. “He will hear something tomorrow.” he said, sighing as their laugh slowly died down.

“Ok, but don’t be too harsh on him. I’m not mad, it was funny. We could go eat a burger or something. Then… Well, we could go somewhere and enjoy the rest of the night by ourselves. Our date is not over yet, right?”

“Absolutely.” Gareth smiled at his boyfriend, using his thumb to wipe some traces of milk on his lips, ending up caressing them and admiring how puffy and red they looked now after the half-eaten spicy meal. “The pepper made your mouth look like I’ve been kissing you for hours.”

A light flush rose on Luka’s cheeks, but his smile never left those tempting lips. “There’s still time to make it true.” he whispered, and the Welsh couldn’t - and didn’t want to - resist him any longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Now I know the title is a bit ambiguous, but we didn't lie when we said it was spicy ;P  
> Hope you guys liked it, thank you for reading! Please consider giving us feedback!  
> You can find us on Tumblr by @esparafuso and @sorethpid


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